Confused by the Trinity?

A religious weight loss program called Weigh Down created in 1992 by a woman named Gwen Shamblin grew from a small business conducted out of a home garage to a multimillion-dollar Nashville corporation with over 30,000 churches and organizations participating. But a few years ago the whole movement was threatened and her business placed in jeopardy when Shamblin, on made comments regarding her beliefs in the Trinity. Here is what she said, “As a ministry, we believe in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. However, the Bible does not use the word “trinity,” and our feeling is that the word “trinity” implies equality in leadership, or shared Lordship. It is clear that the scriptures teach that Jesus is the Son of God and that God sends the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not send God anywhere. God is clearly the Head.”

Her comments sent shockwaves through her community of followers and business partners. She was removed from the Women of Faith website, influential evangelical churches dropped her program, even some key employees left. Thomas Nelson, her publisher, quickly canceled the publication of her book that was then scheduled for release in one month. All of this because she trifled with the Trinity.

Do you understand why her words got her into so much trouble? If you didn’t quite catch the overt false doctrine she is promoting, here are some other evidences of false teaching she has produced for mass consumption.

Though her article, “Teaching the Trinity” has been removed for her site, in her FAQ she says the following:

• "No matter what form you imagine God the Father, Jesus the Son, and His Spirit -- whether separate beings or if the three exist as on one throne -- remember that we are commanded not to argue about words. What is important is that you obey His words!"

• The Bible teaches us that the Son doesn't even know the day or the hour, but only the Father. "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Mark 13:32). How could the same "being" keep a secret from part of the Godhead if indeed there is one Head and not two separate beings?

• The Trinity tradition is based on human teachings which were formed between 325 and 415 AD. These man-made teachings have been debated since its inception. I should not be looked down upon because I continue the debate. Paul warns us in Colossians, "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition" (2:8).

• I believe that Jesus and God are two separate beings. I believe that Jesus is our Lord (referenced hundreds of times) and our God (referenced approximately three times), but I believe that the God of Jesus is God the Father. Jesus is not God the Father.

• Teachers of the Trinity teach that Jesus is Jehovah; they have no scriptures to back this up, and why don't they believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that Jehovah is Jehovah?

What is the conclusion for such statements? She is teaching that Jesus is not fully God. This cuts at the heart of the church’s historic teaching that Jesus Christ, in His very nature, was both fully God and fully man. It’s a mystery which we accept through faith. Yet Shamblin tries to argue her point by saying that Christians grieve Jesus if they adhere to doctrines not found in Scripture. She says, “If God wanted us to refer to Himself, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit as the ‘trinity,’ He would not have left this word completely out of the Bible.”

Is the doctrine of the Trinity a big deal? Why have people been fighting over this one doctrine for centuries? The Athanasian Creed states why. "Whoever wishes to be saved must have this [correct] conviction of the Trinity."

If you do not believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, then you do not believe in the one, true God. You believe in something of your own invention.

The Augsburg Confession makes very clear what the Bible teaches and we believe about our Triune God.

1] Our Churches, with common consent, do teach that the decree of the Council of Nicaea concerning the Unity of the Divine Essence and concerning the Three Persons, is true and to be believed without any doubting; 2] that is to say, there is one Divine Essence which is called and which is God: eternal, without body, without parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, the Maker and Preserver of all things, visible and invisible; and 3] yet there are three Persons, of the same essence and power, who also are coeternal, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And the term "person" 4] they use as the Fathers have used it, to signify, not a part or quality in another, but that which subsists of itself.

5] They condemn all heresies which have sprung up against this article, as the Manichaeans, who assumed two principles, one Good and the other Evil: also the Valentinians, Arians, Eunomians, Mohammedans, and all such. 6] They condemn also the Samosatenes, old and new, who, contending that there is but one Person, sophistically and impiously argue that the Word and the Holy Ghost are not distinct Persons, but that "Word" signifies a spoken word, and "Spirit" signifies motion created in things.
~ Article I of the Augsburg Confession

The doctrine of the Trinity does not attempt to explain God. It only explains to us in a very elemental way what God has revealed to us about Himself. To describe the tip of the iceberg above the water is not to describe the entire iceberg. So we Christians affirm the Trinity, not as an explanation of God, but simply as a way of describing what we know about Him.

Don’t be confused. Just amazed. Accept and believe.